How to Read an Unofficial Transcript

This article was co-authored by Felipe Corredor. Felipe is a Senior College Admissions Consultant at American College Counselors with over seven years of experience. He specializes in helping clients from all around the world gain admission into America's top universities through private, one-on-one consulting. He helps guide clients through the entire college admissions process and perfect every aspect of their college applications. Felipe earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Chicago and recently received his MBA.

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Reading your unofficial transcript is a great way to get all of the details of your academic career without having to pay or wait for an official transcript. Your basic information, including any degrees awarded, is at the top of the transcript. The next section on your transcript will deal with any transfer credits, followed by your grades from the work you did at college. Understanding how your GPA is calculated can be a bit tricky, but as long as you know what numbers you're looking at, you can figure it out!

Part 1 of 4:

Reading Basic Transcript Information

This date is usually a few months before you actually began taking classes. If you received a deferment on your admission, it might have been the previous semester or year.

Look for the "date requested" listing. If you're requesting an unofficial transcript to submit for a job or school application, you need to make sure the requested date is listed. This way, when you submit the transcript as part of an application, whoever is reviewing it will see that it is the most recent transcript possible.

On some transcripts, you might see "programs" instead of "majors."

In order, the "Degrees Awarded" section usually lists the degree you earned, the date you earned it, and your majors and minors.
For example, in successive lines you might see "Bachelor of Arts," "May 5, 2017," "Psychology," and "History," each on their own line.

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Understanding Your Transferred Credits

If you're transferring in credits from more than 1 school, those credits will be listed by school.
Some schools don't list each course individually. Instead, they might just list the total number of credits that transferred from each category.

For example, the first course listed might be "Hist 101." To the right of the course number, you might see the number 3. That tells you that you transferred 3 credits from Hist 101 to your new school.

For example, if you're transferring in a biology class from your last school, or an AP Bio score from high school, the equivalency course will generally look something like "Bio 143."

Most schools only allow you to transfer over a certain number of credits from other institutions, testing, and AP credits. That's why a transfer credit adjustment is necessary.

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Reading Your Undergraduate Record

For example, under your transfer section, you might see "Fall 2010" at the top center of the page. This should be the first semester you took courses as this institution.

The course number tells you how the course appears in the catalog. For example, one of your history courses might be listed as "Hist 101".
The next column is usually the title of the course. This is your class's actual name. Hist 101, for example, might be titled "Intro to World History."
Next you should see the attempted hours/credits for that course. This is the total number of credit hours for the course (usually 3 or 4). Next to the attempted hours, you'll see earned hours. As long as you passed the class, this number should be the same as credits attempted.
Next you'll see your letter grade for the course. This is usually a letter between A and F, with pluses and minuses possible for each letter grade.
Finally, you'll see a number listed as either "quality hours" or "quality points." This number will help you calculate your GPA.

Check each semester's GPA. At the bottom of each semester's section, under the list of the courses you took, you'll see your semester GPA. It might be listed as "term GPA," or "semester GPA." Reading that line horizontally will tell you what GPA you earned, and how many credit hours you attempted and earned that semester. [5] X Research source

Look for your cumulative GPA on the last page of your transcript. At the very bottom of your transcript, you should see a section titled "Undergraduate Career Totals." In this section you can see your overall GPA and how many credit hours you attempted and earned over your entire undergraduate career. [6] X Research source

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Understanding Your GPA

Look for your attempted credits. You can look for this in an individual semester's section, or at the end of your transcript for your entire undergraduate career. It should be on the last line and is usually listed as "Units attempted," "credits attempted," or "hours attempted."

Schools may have different weights for letter grades, but in general, an A is worth 4 quality hours, a B is worth 3 quality points, a C is worth 2, and a D is worth 1. Es and Fs are not worth any points.
So for example, say you took Hist 101, which was 3 credits hours, and you earned an A. You would multiply the 3 credit hours of the course by the 4 quality hours your A is worth to get 12 quality points for that class.

If you're checking your quality hours or points for one semester, this number will be near the end of the section. If you're checking for your entire career, it will be at the end of your transcript.

The attempted credits number is usually to the left of the quality hours earned number.
If, for example, you attempted 12 credits in one semester, and earned 48 quality hours, you'd divide 48 by 12 to get 4. Your semester GPA is therefore a 4.0.

Community Q&A

What is a unofficial transcript? Drew Hawkins1 Community Answer

An unofficial transcript is a record of your college career printed on plain paper without a college seal or your registrar's signature. That means they usually won't be accepted for official purposes such as when you apply to graduate school. However, they can provide valuable information that you can use. It's a great way to get all of the details of your academic career without having to pay or wait for a full, official transcript. It includes your basic info, your degrees, and the grades for all of the work you did while you attended college.

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How do I read my unofficial transcript? Drew Hawkins1 Community Answer

It's actually not as tricky as it looks. At the top, you'll find your basic info such as your name and the dates you attended the school. If you've already completed your degree, your transcript should list the degree or degrees you earned at that institution. They'll be listed in a section at the top of your transcript under "Degrees Awarded." The next section will deal with transfer credits if you transferred schools at any point. After the transfer section, you'll see that your undergraduate record is divided into semesters. In the center of the page, you should see the semester and year for the first semester you took courses at the school. Read across the page horizontally and you'll see all of the information for each course listed on the horizontal line.

Do colleges accept unofficial transcripts? Drew Hawkins1 Community Answer

Sometimes they do. Some graduate programs may ask you to submit an unofficial transcript as you start the application process. This can give them a general idea of what your undergraduate career looked like. However, most schools will require you to submit an official transcript in order to apply there. Usually, you'll contact the school you attended for your undergrad and ask the registrar's office to submit a signed and sealed transcript to the school you're applying to attend. They'll mail your official transcript on your behalf. It can take a few days or weeks for your official transcript to arrive, so don't wait until the last minute!